A 12 foot-ladder is resting against a wall. The base of the ladder is 2.5 feet from the base of the wall.How high up the wall will the ladder reach?

Question

9459 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-06-01T17:17:25

#~~11.74 ft.#

#a^2 + b^2 = c^2#

c = 12

b = 2.5

#a^2 + 2.5^2 = 12^2#

#a^2 + 6.25 = 144#

#a^2 = 137.75#

#a = +-sqrt(137.75)#

#a~~+-11.74#

We can ignore the negative value because a the length has to be positive:

#~~11.74 ft.#